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Friday, May 31, 2013

Well, it appears Dahlia and I are alone in this challenge, but that is ok, because she did so many cute manis, I had a tough time picking. She was a lot more creative than I was with her representations of a lot of the flowers, too. I initially had it narrowed down to SIX of her manis from this challenge, and after much deliberation, I decided to recreate her carnation manicure. I love how creative this was and it looks so pretty in the photographs! Here is how mine turned out.

I started off with Avon Casablanca for the base, then added my 'petals' with Pure Ice SuperStar! using a fine nail art brush.

I used three thin coats here. I've had this polish for a long time, so
I'm not sure if you can still buy it, but it's a really pretty, and has a
great formula, even after all of these years.

Make sure you check out what everyone else did for this one. Although it is just the two of us now, we did decide to open this challenge up so that anyone who wants to do a laid-back version can do it, too! The inlinkz close on 12/31/13 at 11:55pm ET, so please feel free to start whenever you want! If you do, let us know because we would love to see what you come up with!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Oh my! This is my second-to-last post for this challenge. Boy did time fly, and boy am I ready to go back to only posting once or twice a week. Phew! I'm exhausted and I've gotta get my study on. So, here is day 29. I decided to be simple with this one, partially because I am short on time, and partially because I am not so great at nail art with my left hand, but I couldn't bear to remove my cherry blossoms yet. :) Here they are!

I started off with my one an only Liquid Sand polish from OPI - Tiffany Case. My husband got this for me for my birthday, which reminds me: I haven't done my birthday haul post because I've been too busy with challenges! I promise you will see it eventually. Maybe in time for the two month mark. :) I did my cattails in China Glaze Call Of The Wild, and my leaves are Pure Ice Femme Fatale.

Here is Tiffany Case all by itself. I wasn't sure if I would like these textured polishes, but in this case, I definitely do! It's so glittery and the color is very pretty. Also, it went on easily, which kind of surprised me. I thought it would be hard to paint on smoothly because of the textured finish, but it was not.

That is all - I've gotta get back to working on my marketing paper. Wish me luck! Make sure you check out what the others have done for this challenge, too!

Good morning! Oh my, I am so excited about this manicure! I went all out on this one, and it only took me about an hour to get this result. I love cherry blossoms, and even have a cherry blossom tattoo on my foot. I'm sparing you the photo since I know a lot of people get creeped out by feet haha, but you've seen it before if you follow me on facebook, as I post the occasional pedi on there. Anyway, without further ado, here is my cherry blossom mani!

LOVE it! I still can't believe how great this turned out! I started off with a diagonal gradient using Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac and Mint Sorbet and Julep Jessica. After that, I used a small brush to draw in my branches with China Glaze Call of the Wild, and used Sinful Colors Nirvana to accent that. For the blossoms, I dotted on Pure Ice Super Star!, then used my small paint brush and NYC Fuchsia Shock Creme mixed with white to add the shading. I used a dotting tool to add a small dot to the center of each flower/bud using NYC Fuchsia Shock Creme. And, that was it! It was actually pretty simple, but had pretty stunning results if I do say so myself. :)

This first pic is pre-cleanup ;)

Here is my gradient by itself. I had never thought to do a gradient on an angle before, but it just randomly came to me, so I went with it. :)

Thank you so much for looking and be sure that you check out what the others did for this challenge!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I did my husband's cousin, Rachel's, nails for this post! She was one of the first people to volunteer to lend me their hands for this challenge. She will probably be the last guest for this challenge, although...you never know. Maybe someone else will make an appearance. We shall see. :) I get nervous about my freehand skills when I'm painting someone else's nails, so I used a stamp for her. Take a look!

I started off with two coats of Zoya Lo, then stamped on the daisies using plate BM10 from Bundle Monster, then used a dotting tool to add yellow centers with Zoya Pippa. While that was drying, I created a gradient on the other fingers using Zoya Kimber and Lo. I always try to give my stamping some dry time, because it spears if you try to add topcoat too quickly. These turned out so cute!

Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out what the others did for this challenge!

I love those long rows of tulips that you can look out over and just see flowers for what seems like miles. When I think of tulips, that is always what I think of. I have a few photographs I took last year at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens that are like that...but on a smaller scale. As I was looking through them, I got my inspiration. Here is an image I found that shows what I am going for with this mani.

So I decided to go for a dotted gradient. I started of with a green base, using China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, and added dots in Julep Mandy using my dotting tools. It looks a bit Christmas-y, but I like it. :)

Day 25 is here! Thank goodness we are almost done - posting every day is just not happening while I am working and taking two 6 week classes at school! It has been fun though - I enjoyed coming up with ideas for this, although I wish I had more time for some of these. Well today's post is supposed to be for a tree fern, so here is what I came up with.

I opted to keep it very simple because I have a paper to write and an exam to study for. :) I started off with three coats of Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost, then used my Migi Nail Art Pen in Pastel Green to draw in my fern design. I drew this with my left hand and am a righty, so forgive the wobbliness. Nail art never comes out as good on my right hand!

Here is Wet N Wild Eggplant Frost all by itself. It went on more opaque than I thought it would, and I was glad for that. I thought it might be quite sheer by the way it looked in the bottle. It did stain pretty badly as well, which caused problems since I was in such a hurry.

So there you have it: day 25 is done, and you will get day 26 later today since I am still in a perpetual state of catching up! Make sure you look at what the others have done for this challenge!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

I'm short on time today, so here is my sunflower mani for the 24th day of this challenge.

I started off with 3 coats of L.A. Colors Wired, then painted my sunflowers using a Kiss striper in Beach Yelloe, Pure Ice Vintage Glam for my outline, and used China Glaze Call of the Wild and my Orly Striper in Jet Black for the center of the sunflowers.

Here is L.A. Colors Wired all by itself!

Thanks for looking! Make sure you look at what the others did for this challenge.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Oh my - it's stock day! I didn't know what stock was, but after looking it up online, I am certain I have seen it in floral arrangements and bouquets quite a few times. I had a tough time deciding what to do for this one, but I ended up opting for another stamping/nail art pen combo, like the one I did on my sister for the dahlia mani. I got jealous and decided I needed one too. :)

For this manicure, I started off with two coats of butter LONDON The Black Knight, then used Konad Special White for my stamping, and one of my Migi Nail Art pens in Hot Pink to shade the flowers. I used Bundle Monster Plates BM11 & BM16 and also Konad Plate M81.

Here is butter LONDON The Black Knight all by itself. I luuuurve it.

Also, I have an announcement. I am closing in on 100 followers, which I didn't think I would ever even get close to. I have decided that a giveaway is in order, since I have been lucky enough to win several of them from other nail bloggers, and feel that I need to pay it forward. I will have one as soon as I reach that milestone. It may be a while, but I have already purchased my prize and was too excited to wait any longer to share the news haha.

Well that is all...make sure you take a look at what the others did for this challenge!

Hello! I have a two-fer for you today! Since I am short on time and have this challenge going on that I really need to keep up with, I decided to use rose day to show off these new water decals I got from Born Pretty Store. Take a look!

These water decals are a great way to add detailed designs to your manicure without all of the time spent on freehand nail art. They do not require anything special, other than a dish of cold water and some tweezers to help with application. I started off with three coats of OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em then added these cute rose decals. They were easy to apply, and didn't smudge badly with topcoat the way some of the other decals I've tried have done.

Here is Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em all by itself. It is a thin jelly, which I will have to remember to play with again with some of my glitters. :)

You can buy these particular nail decals here. This set actually came with 11 sheets filled with a bunch of different images, including lots more flowers, Snow White, and Hello Kitty! I can't wait to use them! When you buy a set at Born Pretty Store, you will get enough decals on each sheet to do two full sets of manicures, or more if you only apply these as an accent! In this set, I received 11 sheets, so that is enough to do 22 manis! You can gets a lot of other designs from Born Pretty Store as well, (including these awesome nautical decals), which you can check out here. This entire set was $4.73 with FREE international shipping, and took about three weeks to get to me here in Ohio.

Also, you can get 10% off today by using the discount code below! I will keep it on my sidebar too, so you can find it easily in the future!

*Products in this post were sent for review in return for my honest opinion.

I'm Jessie and I felt like I was going crazy until I re-discovered my love of nailpolish. I had a lot going on - I was working full time, going to school part time, and had a husband, a house, a dog, & three cats to take care of. I gained a renewed obsession with painting my nails, and discovered what a great form of relaxation it is. I got to be creative, play with color, and most importantly, avoid chores and homework for a few hours! Now I am a recent college graduate, and have more free time to take care of my home and paint my nails! I hope you enjoy my posts and nail art!